It's strange to think that a few months ago I associated Zanzibar with Tenacious D and Disney World, and now here I am wandering around its busy markets and resting on its beaches. For those who are like I was, the island of Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, and is located a short distance off the shores of the mainland part of the country. I've posted a map of Tanzania--Zanzibar is just off the coast.
Zanzibar is a great place for resting--it is a unique paradise with beautiful beaches with bright blue water (comparable to Cancun), amazing food that showcases the many spices grown on the island, and a very strong Islamic influence that is apparent in the various calls to prayer one can hear echoing throughout the city and the apparel worn by both men and women. The people are very friendly, and Stone Town (the section of the city where I'm staying--a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a great place to get lost among the many winding alleys. At almost every turn I'm tempted to take a picture of what I see--Zanzibar is incredibly photogenic, from its architecture to its inhabitants, and, finally, its beautiful sunsets over handmade boats that sail along its shores.
The past couple weeks have been filled with amazing experiences, which I'll try to summarize while still doing them justice. Dina and I arrived in Zanzibar early yesterday morning (just as George Bush was wandering around Dar es Salaam, a short distance away). For the week before our arrival, we were wandering around the game parks located in the northern part of Tanzania (very close to Kenya). We were very near to Mount Kilimanjaro and the city of Arusha, which you can see on the map (as a side note: contrary to what Toto sings in their hit song "Africa," Kilimanjaro is not visible from the Serengeti). To be more specific, we spent one day on Lake Manyara, three days in the Serengeti, and a couple days in or around the Ngorongoro Crater. All three places were spectacular.
Dina and I really lucked out. We arrived at the safari company we booked with to find out that no one else had signed up for our trip--it was a private trip with just us, our guide, and a cook. Voyaging around the parks in a beefed-up Land Cruiser was a magical experience. At Lake Manyara, a large family of about thirty baboons wandered along the road with us, a couple babies lagging behind to roll around next to our truck. Elephants and giraffes blocked our route on several occasions.
Ngorongoro Crater, the result of the collapse of an ancient volcano, is breathtaking not only due to the animals that live there, but also due to its sheer size and beauty. Inside the crater I felt as though I was wandering around either dinosaur territory or a fantasy world--a land that seemed untouched by humans. There were large, green hills, a mirror-like lake covered with flamingos, and, constantly in the distance, the enormous walls of the crater. I have a hard time describing Ngorongoro; Dina called it "Eden."
The Serengeti lived up to its reputation. At this time of the year, millions of wildebeests migrate through the Serengeti National Park, and many of the animals give birth there. As you can imagine, this provides a ton of food for the lions, cheetahs, and other predators that inhabit the Serengeti. Watching the drama that plays out is like being in an interactive show on the Discovery Channel, or really several shows--we wandered from "Leopard Country" to "Elephant Country" to "Lion Country," and each region in the Serengeti's over 14,000 square kilometers had a distinct character.
We watched as hundreds of thousands of wildebeests grazed along the vast Serengeti plains, as a pair of cheetahs gnawed at their kill while ducking from buzzards that hovered above their heads, and as hippos fought with each other only a few meters from the shore where we stood. At one point, we found three cheetahs gazing into the distance, looking for food. We followed them for an hour as they stalked a family of gazelles, only to be noticed and left hungry. In defeat and searching for another target, they wandered right by our truck, only ten feet from us. While watching the way the cheetahs stalked, walked, and waited, I understood just how different it is to see them (and all the other animals) in their natural habitat instead of up close and caged in at a zoo.
Each night we found a campsite and put up our tents. There are no barriers between the campsite and the rest of the park--at night we could hear the sound of hyenas wandering around our tents, and one night I literally walked within feet of a grazing water buffalo. Once, at 4am, I awoke to the sound of water buffalo "mooing" in the nearby wilderness. Suddenly, this sound was followed by a roar--in the morning my guide told me he had also been woken up by the sound of lions hunting the buffalo.
And so, carrying tons of memories and hundreds of pictures, I left the parks of Northern Tanzania and arrived here in Zanzibar. I only plan to be here a few more days--just long enough to visit the beaches along the northern coast and to plan the next leg of my trip. Dina will be flying back to New York in a couple days, which means I'll soon be forced to begin my journey as a solo traveler. It's been wonderful traveling with Aditya and Avani in India and Dina here in Africa, and now I'm excited to see what kinds of experiences I'll have on my own. Of course, I am going to be taking a few precautions--tomorrow I'll be visiting a tailor to have pockets sown inside my blue jeans, and on the underside of my belt.
Although my plans are very tentative at this point, here's what I'm thinking (I hope this map helps!):
I plan to fly from here to Dar es Salaam later this week. From Dar es Salaam, I'll take a train west to Zambia, where I'll visit Victoria Falls (which is on the border with Zimbabwe, south of Lusaka). From the Falls, I plan to go back east to Malawi's capital, Lilongwe. Once in Lilongwe, I'll find a bus and head south to Blantyre, where I can take another bus to Mozambique's border. Once across the border, I'll make my way further east, all the way to Mozambique's coast where I'll arrive at Ilha de Mocambique (supposedly a beautiful island). Once in Mozambique, I'm planning to make my way south along the coast, past Swaziland and into South Africa.
Of course, all these plans are tentative, but I'll do my best to keep you all posted on how things play out. Since arriving here in Zanzibar, I've received some advice (and inspiration) from some of the people I've met, including social workers, Peace Corps volunteers, and even a man who backpacked from Cairo to Cape Town. No matter how much I travel, I'm always impressed by the variety of people I run into. I'm going to stay flexible to the advice and information people share with me, which, in addition to my guide, will be the main influences on where I go from day to day.
I hope you're all doing very well, and I'm wishing you the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment